Album Review

Not quite a traditional Workdogs album, 1993's Workdogs in Hell is obscure American lo-fi indie rock's idea of a remix album. These 11 tracks are taken from previous Workdogs releases and remixed/added to/reconstructed/just generally screwed with by a roll call of cult favorites ranging from New York post-punk royalty Lydia Lunch and Maureen Tucker to fetish filmmaker Richard Kern and Foetus mainstay James Thirlwell. Most of the guests just add on new tracks to the preexisting rhythm beds, from Lunch's primal caterwaul to Kern's typically skuzzy pretentiousness, but a few tracks, especially the trippy "*" and the TV-dialogue maelstrom "'A Litany of Complaints/Satan Is Real,'" turn everything inside out to create some genuinely startling sheets of noise. Weirder than their other albums by far, Workdogs in Hell is for devout fans only.

Biography

Genre: Rock

Years Active: '80s, '90s

The Workdogs consists of Rob Kennedy (bass, vocals) and Scott Jarvis (drums), who have provided the backbeat for Half Japanese, Velvet Monkeys, and a number of other bands over the years (Jarvis also produced and engineered the Beastie Boys' Pollywog Stew EP and served as their tour manager when they hooked up with Madonna's 1985 Like a Virgin tour). The only Workdogs' constant is change as they've operated under a different lineup for most every release and/or live performance. Jon Spencer (Pussy...